M!KEDROP Mornings – Define Meaningless

College football players announce bowl game/draft intentions

It’s the time of year where some of college football player’s top players announce that they will forego the bowl game to begin preparing for the NFL draft, the idea is to avoid major injury in the game. I think it’s great. I truly respect what these players decide and if they decide not to play, they gave their heart and souls to the school for so long that they need to do what’s in their best interests, especially because they aren’t paid to play college. They need to protect their bodies.

But here’s my question – these players sit out bowl games because they are “meaningless”, but aren’t so many other games meaningless? Perfect example would be this past Saturday. While everyone was focused on conference championship games, there were a couple of games played due to rescheduling because of the hurricane earlier this year. NC State beat ECU in a game that was never close (58-3). In that game WR Kelvin Harmon, caught 6 passes for 67 yards and a TD. On Monday, Harmon announced his decision to skip the bowl. But what’s the difference between the bowl and the ECU game? ECU game was for 9 wins. No real rivalry, no high stakes, certainly no national audience, like the bowl would provide. In another game, South Carolina beat Akron 28-3. WR Deebo Samuel caught 2 TD passes. What’s the difference between playing Akron in front of 20,000 fans in the rain and playing in a bowl game?

Again, I’m not advocating for players to play in the bowl. It’s their right to do what they please, and I think it’s the right decision personally. But what I’m questioning is why sit out the bowl game but play a meaningless 12th game in front of no fans and no tv audience? No incentives, no conference titles, no rivalries. Just a blah game. Samuel, Harmon or anyone is equally likely to get hurt in game 12 than they are in game 13. We should be thankful this isn’t the case, as I’d rather watch guys like this play as many games as possible, it’s an interesting thing to think about nonetheless.

Who is Zion Williamson?

Yes, I know who Zion Williamson is. I’ve been watching his YouTube highlights for years. But is he really better than RJ Barrett? All these publications, all these websites are posting articles about who could use Zion, where will Zion go? I’ll tell you where he’s not going to go – #1 overall. I fully buy into the hype, I fully believe Zion will be a star. I also know that his Duke teammate RJ Barrett is now and will be in the NBA, a better player.

Throwback Monday in the NFL

Mark Sanchez (now with the Redskins), Adrian Peterson, and Darren Sproles all scored touchdowns on Monday night in the Eagles win over the Redskins. Welcome to 2009!

Is Tom Brady finished?

After rushing for his 1,000th yard on Sunday vs the Vikings, Tom Brady seemed to imply he was walking away…

"The only reason I've been playing 19 years was to get to that thousand yards and I did it, so that's it… Time to ride off into the sunset." — Tom Brady ? pic.twitter.com/m5rpkR3qHN

Stat of the Day

The @HoustonTexans have not lost since September 23rd. Since that time we've had 2 NFL Head Coaches fired, The Red Sox won The World Series, an NBA season has started, Mid terms have come and gone and we've celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving and Diwali. And Hanukkah has begun